French Things That Aren’t French

It almost seems as if the French invented everything. From food to fashion to lifestyle, every important aspect of life seems to have at least a few things that are labeled as “French”. But here’s a few French-labeled things that aren’t French at all.

French Kissing
Let’s start you off with the biggest shock: French kissing was first written in the Kama Sutra, which was before the country of France even existed. The name happened because Americans first got kisses like that in France, and being the cultured masterminds that they are, they decided to call them French kisses.

French Toast
Yet another thing that was invented before France. French toast is actually an original recipe from ancient Roman culture, and it was – again – called French toast by the Americans because the modern variant was invented by a New York innkeeper named Joseph French.

French Manicure
I’ll keep this short: it was invented by Americans and called “French” for no good reason other than they did nails like that before sending their models on the runway in Paris.

French Horn
While this one isn’t to blame on the Americans, it’s to blame on the British a good 300 years ago. While the French horn was designed by Germans, the British found the design so complex they decided to call it French. Yup. That’s how quickly that went wrong.